Staff Bio

J. Erin Riehle, MSN, RN

Ms. Riehle is a recognized authority and national leader in promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. She is a founder and Senior Director of Project SEARCH, an employment and transition program that has received national recognition for innovative practices pioneered under Ms. Riehle’s guidance.

She is regularly invited to present at national and regional conferences, and has co-authored numerous publications and book chapters. Erin Riehle began her career at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center as a staff nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit and rapidly advanced to clinical director of the emergency department.

Her interest in employment for people with disabilities grew from her frustration with high turnover rates among workers performing critical tasks such as re-stocking emergency room supply shelves. Riehle found that placing individuals with developmental disabilities in these positions was both an effective solution to her staffing problems and an improvement in quality of life for the workers she employed. This positive experience ultimately led to a systematic, hospital-wide effort, led by Ms. Riehle, to explore job possibilities for people with disabilities.